Abstract
Coastal dunes are experiencing increases in vegetation cover and reduced mobility levels in many sites around the world. Ecology-led approaches to coastal dune management perceive this change as ‘undesirable’ because the increase in plant cover leads to a reduction in partially vegetated to bare sand habitats and the species depending on them. This has generated a shift in the management paradigm where the objective is to revert this trend by intervening in the landscape, with actions ranging from re-introducing grazing and mowing, to mechanical removal of dune form and vegetation (dune ‘rejuvenation’). In some cases, such as many coastal dunes in Britain, this has also led to low controls on visitor pressure and allowing/promoting human trampling as a ‘natural’ way to free up areas of bare sand. This commentary critically analyses the main principles (and terminology) underlying this relatively recent shift in management paradigm, and questions assumptions such as ‘bare sand is good’ and/or ‘mobility is natural’ in the context of dune evolutionary cycles and responses to abiotic and biotic drivers. We review the limitations and dangers of this approach and argue that it is not sustainable given the current climatic and environmental conditions, and that it can increase the risk of coastal erosion and force dune systems to deviate from adapting and changing to direct/indirect drivers. Finally, we present the benefits of a management approach that focuses on minimizing human impacts so that natural processes continue to occur.
Highlights
Background and aimOver the past three decades there has been increasing recognition, in Western Europe, of a relatively rapid increase in the vegetation cover of coastal dune systems, leading to a decline in the extent of mobile dunes and of bare sand cover (Provoost et al 2011)
There have been a wide range of actions aimed at the restoration of dunes of the Atlantic province of Europe, many of them funded through the EU and associated with LIFE Nature projects (Geelen et al 2015; Houston 2016), and justified within the context of implementing the Habitats Directive (EU Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora)
Pioneer dune species tend to colonize more mobile sections of dune fields with other species following and vegetation succession driving the system towards mature stages characterised by low dune mobility levels
Summary
Over the past three decades there has been increasing recognition, in Western Europe, of a relatively rapid increase in the vegetation cover of coastal dune systems, leading to a decline in the extent of mobile dunes and of bare sand cover (Provoost et al 2011). This process has been described from many countries (Rhind et al 2001; Jackson and Cooper 2011; Arens et al 2013; Darke et al 2013; Miot da Silva et al 2013; Pye et al 2014; Moulton et al 2019; Osswald et al 2019) and has in turn given rise to studies that attempt to
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